‘Flemming’ is on the case

Published: Thursday, June 6, 2013 at 07:54 AM.

“The best thing is Henry followed his dream and made it work,” she said. “He went through a difficult journey to get there but in the end, he realized his dream.”

Want to Go?

The Kings Mountain Little Theatre presents “Flemming: An American Thriller,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, at 3 p.m. Sunday and at 7:30 p.m. June 14-15 at the Joy Performance Center, 202 S. Railroad Ave., Kings Mountain. Adult tickets are $10 and student/senior tickets are $8. Reservations can be made by calling the box office at 704-730-9408 or by emailing tickets@kmlt.org. For more information, visit www.kmlt.org.

A midlife career change leads to hilarity in “Flemming: An American Thriller,” the upcoming Kings Mountain Little Theatre production.

In the play, which concludes the theatre’s 2012-13 season, Henry Flemming (Frank Lattimore) comes home from work and tells his wife Karen (Bridget Allen) that he’s sold the lucrative brokerage firm his father left him and purchased a detective agency.

Henry, from a privileged background in Westport, Conn., goes to work every morning at 8 and comes home every night at 6, said director Georgianna Wright, a 30-year community theater veteran who appeared in the KMLT production of “Arsenic and Lace” last year and directed the Greater Shelby Community Theatre production of “Hollywood Arms,” based on the Carol Burnett’s memoirs, in the fall.

The couple’s children are never home and Henry’s feelings of boredom and insignificance prompt him to change his life, Wright said.

“He’s tired of the everyday humdrum, the unimportance of his life,” Wright said. “He wants something new, exciting and fun.”

On Henry’s first case for never-present client Mr. Peterson – and much to the horror of his prim and proper wife and his wacky neighbors Suzy and Stan (Dawn Rickus and Sean Whitworth) – the Flemming living room begins to fill up with dead bodies. One of those bodies turns out to be Karen’s father Walter Larsen (Dave Allen).

“She’s less than thrilled,” Wright said.

The mystery starts when Henry buys the Acme Plaza Detective Agency. The case takes him across the world. The action, though, takes place in the Flemmings’ living room, where the bar maintains a prominent place and Henry’s wife and neighbors increasingly fret about his safety.

Henry shows up at home every day more battered and disheveled. At one point, he walks through the door and says, “‘It seems as if I’ve been beaten up’” as it’s a surprise to him,” Wright said.

“Karen’s main concern is that it’s ruining his wardrobe,” she said.

The play is a spoof of the film noir thrillers of the 1940s and 50s. The attitudes and motivations of crime stories from that era are captured in Henry’s transformation from a mild-mannered stockbroker into a rough private detective in the mold of Humphrey Bogart and Nick Charles, the protagonist in the 1934 novel “The Thin Man” and the 1950s television series of the same name.

The humor comes from seeing the upper crust characters thrown into a situation in which you couldn’t imagine them being, Wright said.

“For them, life is a cocktail party because they almost always have a drink in their hands, every situation calls for that,” she said.

It’s a lighter comedy with a surprise twist ending. Like any good whodunit, the mystery is solved with everybody in the room. It’s a show that should leave theatergoers pleased, Wright said.

“The best thing is Henry followed his dream and made it work,” she said. “He went through a difficult journey to get there but in the end, he realized his dream.”

Want to Go?

The Kings Mountain Little Theatre presents “Flemming: An American Thriller,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, at 3 p.m. Sunday and at 7:30 p.m. June 14-15 at the Joy Performance Center, 202 S. Railroad Ave., Kings Mountain. Adult tickets are $10 and student/senior tickets are $8. Reservations can be made by calling the box office at 704-730-9408 or by emailing tickets@kmlt.org. For more information, visit www.kmlt.org.